Even the most prim and proper can’t deny the fascination
of staring (and picking) at our pores in front of a mirror for far too long, but taking microscopic photos of your blackheads and posting them on the internet takes a brave individual. Reddit user Fit-N-Funky is just that, and essentially did us all a favor by posting hers, because we’ve always wondered what those pesky, stubborn pores look like up close and personal, right?

As Refinery29 reports, after purchasing a miniature USB microscope, she decided to
see how different skin cleansers and treatments fared on her skin immediately
after using them. The first slideshow below shows what her nose, cheeks and forehead looked like before cleansing (and what we presume ours might look like as well).

“I started with a nose strip,” the next photo’s caption reads, adding
that the product really does do “a great job cleaning deep into the pores,” which, according to the below “after” photo, we’re not arguing.

She explained that whatever the pore strip didn’t “get,” was then brought to the surface, as seen in the first photo below. Next came a peel-off mask. The “after” photo depicts the results. “Pores are closed and skin is tighter.”

“I am surprised at how much my pores cleared up after some
light treatment. Really goes to show that a little goes a long way.” If you were ever unsure whether a proper skin care regimen really mattered (or if pictures really were were worth one thousand words) scroll up and take another look at these images.